Why a Common Operating Model is Essential for Business Productivity

If an organisation is distributed across different sites, cities, states or even countries, it is not uncommon to find that business users have developed their own way of doing things. They have developed their own systems and processes, their own work methods and often invested in disparate technology solutions for different areas of the business.

This compromises the productivity and profitability of the organisation as well as the integrity and accuracy of company information.

CMC uses a concept called the Common Operating Model (COM) to document the end to end functional requirements across the organisation. The COM is like a dynamic blueprint that identifies the business rules, roles, processes, workflows, decision making, customer and supplier interactions and technology systems that an organisation needs to operate efficiently.

The Common Operating Model should support the Business or Corporate Strategy to enable the company to add value to its’ shareholders or beneficiaries.

Benefits of a Common Operating Model

The benefits of a Common Operating Model include:

Elimination of diverse processes across the business.

Reduced costs and improved profitability as there is one way of doing things.

Streamlined manual and paper-based tasks.

Reduced data entry, double handling and duplication of effort.

Simplicity in consolidated reporting across business units.

Improved decision making by standardising pricing and promotional rules across business units.

Better access to accurate information, financial transparency and reliable reporting across the organisation.

Improved automation and workflows across the business.

A robust and flexible method to better support strategic initiatives.

CMC’s Unique Method – Business Scenarios

CMC uses Business Scenarios to document the COM for our clients. This is particularly helpful when our clients are planning a technology review or an upgrade to their existing business systems.

We facilitate Business Scenario Workshops with the Business Process Owners (BPO) from the various functional areas of the organisation.

We begin with a master set of 100+ business scenarios templates and work collaboratively with the BPOs to refine and agree one way of doing things across the company.

The starting point is a curated selection of all the relevant templates ready to be considered by the BPOs for refinement to reflect their business areas.

“The Common Operating Model (COM) is a common reference, a common process that is adopted across the organisation. One way of doing things improves efficiencies and reduces operational costs”